


where are we going, where have we been?

by TheSpaceCoyote



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Kylo Ren, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Caretaking, Chancellor Armitage Hux, Fever, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Armitage Hux, Pre Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, Sick Armitage Hux, Sickfic, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:41:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24671773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: After a sudden illness strikes a pregnant Hux, Kylo is left to mull over the nature of his relationship with the chancellor as he cares for him.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 19
Kudos: 195





	where are we going, where have we been?

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a hot second since I've written some mpreg, so I wanted to remedy that. Besides, I've been dying to write pregnant Chancellor Hux for some time now.
> 
> Prompt was: "You're too weak to build a nest."

“Hux!”

The ensuing crash that split through the air drowned out most of Kylo’s cry. He had just barely closed the door to the luxurious guest suite courtesy of their Chagrian hosts, lock clicking automatically behind them, when he caught Hux lose his footing and pitch over out of the corner of his eye. Kylo rushed to his mate’s side, heart in his throat, but not before Hux’s grasping hand snagged onto one of the fancy, nouveau light fixtures on the sitting room table, sending it crashing to the floor.

Thankfully, Kylo caught Hux just in time, though it hardly eased his mind all that much as his mate—his seven-months _pregnant_ mate—went limp and heavy in his arms. 

“Hux. _Hux!_ Answer me!” Kylo urged, lightly shaking Hux’s shoulders, but got no response. He wracked his brain as he took in the sight of his mate, his skin a shade more deathly pale than normal, strands of his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, and worst of all, the whites of his eyes, peppered with petechiae, just barely visible beneath spasming eyelids. 

For one, horrible moment, Kylo’s mind ejected all reason. His entire awareness of the world around him whittled down only to the lifeless body of Hux in his arms, his senses losing all color and resonance as he fumbled with the Force, fingers numb, reaching with the hope it could hold onto the thread of Hux’s vitality that was no doubt already slipping away from him. But then the moment passed, allowing him to sense a spark of life—or lives, rather. Kylo’s heart, mid-rend, suddenly leaped into his throat when Hux shuddered, coughed, and wavered his eyes open. 

“ _Stars_ ,” Kylo inhaled, feeling like he was sucking his soul back into his body, “Hux, I thought for a moment, you were—”

Abruptly, Hux let out a whimper; such a piteous, heartbreaking thing that Kylo had never heard before. It stopped his voice dead in its tracks, any further words overcome by a sympathetic, protective whine.

They were not yet bonded, yet that didn’t stop Kylo from feeling Hux’s suffering as viscerally as a wound in his gut. The chancellor felt both cold and hot in his arms, sweat glistening on his clammy skin, two extremes that shouldn’t exist in the same body. Hux wasn’t usually so divided, not in any way, so the twitching and spasming of his body almost made sense, as it struggled to suss out what to do with itself. The stalwart chancellor wasn’t used to being so polarized on the inside, whether that be mentally or, in this case, physically, and it was taking its toll. His thin limbs trembled, fingers digging into the shimmery material of his elegant, color-shifting robes as he hugged himself together. Beneath that, the surface of his belly shuddered in a series of questioning kicks, the pup concerned for its parent’s welfare. Kylo sent them a quick, reassuring sensation through the Force, and they calmed. 

“I-I apologize, Ren, I just…I don’t…was feeling off, but I didn’t…” Hux shuddered, curling up in Kylo’s arms with another soft whine. Seeing his omega, his pregnant omega—and yes Hux was _his_ even if there was nothing but an unborn child and years of tense cooperation between them—took an immediate toll on Kylo’s constitution, and he almost broke down into tears himself when he noticed Hux’s eyes shining with pain and confusion.

“Quiet. You don’t have to apologize,” Kylo replied, even as he wondered just how long Hux had been feeling “off” for. It wouldn’t exactly be unlike the general to hide an illness in the name of his duty, but now wasn’t the time for such accusations. “Is there something I can get for you? Do you need a doctor?” He could still feel the pup radiate strongly in the Force, but the presence of a medic could ease both of their minds, lucid and febrile alike. 

But Hux shook his head. “N-No. I just...I need...I need my _nest_ ,” he babbled on. Then he blinked his eyes rapidly, as if the nearly fully dimmed lights of the suite were still too bright for him. He closed them for a long moment, so long Kylo worried he had passed out again, but then he jerked himself back into alertness. “My nest...please, Ren…” he croaked, words snagging on a dry sob. 

Kylo swallowed around the lump in his throat. Was Hux even lucid enough to realize he wasn’t at his quarters on Coruscant? Was he really that sick? Hux had worked himself like a dog time and time again over the years, but never had the stress taken such an alarming toll. 

“Be still, Hux,” Kylo gentled, stroking Hux’s hair off his forehead, removing his chancellor’s circlet and setting it on the floor. "You’re too weak to make a nest. Let’s just get you in bed.”

“But I,” Hux inhaled shallowly, voice breaking further when he tried to breathe out, “I need my nest. Ren, please.”

Kylo stilled, eyes wide. They had ruled the galaxy together for almost—ten years, yes, it was ten years at this point, wasn’t it?—and he could probably count the number of times Hux had said “please” to him on one hand. And the majority of those moments had happened in the throes of sex. But this? This sounded broken, begging, and it tugged at Kylo’s heart, his alpha instinct. It made his soul want to howl with pain. It made him want to hunt down and rip apart whoever had done this to Hux, and yet he couldn’t. Hux had done this to himself, and Kylo had ignored the signs until the last possible moment. 

So there was nothing more to be done, now, than make sure his mate felt as comfortable as possible. Kylo could at least do that. 

He secured his grip around Hux, hefting him up in the air. Deathly careful not to drop Hux or step on the pieces of the shattered lamp, Kylo ambled on over to the suite’s luxurious bed. He had been planning to ravish his chancellor there, once they were away from prying eyes, but right now his thoughts were lightyears away from sex. 

“Here. Sit for a second.” Kylo slowly eased Hux into a soft armchair, before tearing into his still-packed luggage. They’d had quite the full day, leaving Kylo no time to get to it until now. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for; a long, black robe, one of the thick ones Kylo frequently wore on missions to the front-line. It had been washed before they departed Coruscant, but years of use had left his alpha scent permanently soaked into each coarse fiber. He pressed it to his face and exhaled, rubbing fresh odor into the fabric before draping it over his shoulder. 

As Hux watched, face still pale and queasy, Kylo stripped the brocade comforter off the bed and tossed the pillows onto the carpet, to be retrieved later. Using a few thick towels from the bathroom, he braided them end to end and crafted an egg-shaped barrier atop the mattress, before layering the fine cotton sheets, the spare blanket stored in the walk-in wardrobe, and then the comforter over the top. Finally, he tucked the discarded pillows into the makeshift nest, and covered the whole affair in his robe, unfastened and unzipped as to cover more space in warm, well-scented fabric. 

“Well?” Kylo carefully picked Hux back up, taking his mate over to the bedside for inspection. “Will this pass muster for the night, Chancellor?”

Hux’s eyes still appeared glazed, but he nevertheless lifted his head to glance at the nest. As Kylo’s scent wafted into his nose, realization dawned on him, and he inhaled deeply, generously. 

“Ah...it smells like you, doesn’t it?”

“Yep. And it’ll smell even more like me when I get in with you. I mean, if that’s alright.” Kylo would rather die on his own lightsaber than be apart from his mate at the moment, but if Hux insisted he sleep on the damasked floor for the night, he would have no choice but to comply. Thankfully, Hux shook his head with a soft simper. 

“I would prefer that. Please.”

Kylo swallowed. That word, again. He wondered if this would become a common occurrence. So much had changed thanks to this pregnancy, and so much more would never be the same once the child arrived. Kylo tried not to think about it too often, it made him feel nervous, small; highlighted his shortcomings, his naivete when it came to certain matters. Galactic domination, force mastery, those things he knew. But he was still a child himself when it came to the realm of relationships, emotions, parenting. 

And yet, he had managed to build a decent nest. So maybe he was finally starting to make a little progress. 

Kylo sat Hux down at the edge of the bed, hands hesitating over his belly until Hux gave him a slow nod of assent. Kylo, with as much care as he could, unfastened the chancellor’s outer robes, leaving him only in the lightweight chemise and simple pants he wore underneath. Kylo decided to leave those for now, not want to jostle Hux around too much when he was already exhausted and sick. They’d make for adequate bedclothes for tonight. 

Kylo smiled softly to himself as he folded up the outer robes, placing them on top of Hux’s luggage. It reminded him of early on in his reign as Supreme Leader, of the first few times he and Hux had fallen into bed together. Kylo had spent many a night with Hux’s body draped over him, clad only in rumpled underthings, their bodies in the aftermath too warm and aroused to make huddling under the covers a good plan. Kylo had felt so old, then, with his knot proudly stuck inside of Hux, mature and sure of everything in the world now that he had properly mated the stuffy omega, and yet in truth he’d been so young, so selfish. Not the kind of man that would ever accept the responsibility of raising a child, or the reality of caring for a mate. 

While Hux situated himself in the nest, trying to feel out the best place to curl up to sleep, Kylo filled a goblet of water from the refresher and retrieved pregnancy-safe pain medication from their luggage. He even called in to the front desk and canceled tomorrow morning’s wake up call, a move he knew would get him flack from a fully conscious and aware Hux. He did it anyway. Some things took priority over showy diplomatic meetings. 

The Chagrians would understand. And if they didn’t, Kylo would make them. 

After sweeping the broken lamp into the waste bin with a wave of his hand, he returned with the water to find Hux slipping out of consciousness again, one hand braced against his belly, eyebrows knit together. Kylo deposited the pain medicine within reach on the nightstand, but hung onto the glass of water. He tapped Hux lightly on the shoulder, until his eyes fluttered open. Kylo found them still unnervingly glassy, but tried to push past that. _Getting properly hydrated will help fix that_ , Kylo thought as he cradled the back of Hux’s head and lifted the water to his mouth. But Hux made a face at the cold feeling of the glass, pursing his lips into a line. 

“Really, chancellor?” Kylo said with a sigh. Hux wasn’t thinking straight, obviously, but with such an evident fever he needed to get some fluids in him without further fuss. So Kylo took a swig of the water himself and, leaning over, sealed their lips together in a kiss. He rolled his tongue and hollowed his cheeks, pushing the frigid fluid into Hux’s mouth. Worry spiked in Kylo’s chest that Hux might choke on it but, thanks to either the fever or the surprise of the kiss, he relaxed enough that the water slipped down his throat with ease. He smirked against Hux’s lips when he felt the chancellor let out a low, mildly disapproving, mostly content, moan. 

“You rotten…” Hux wheezed when their lips parted, breath cold on Kylo’s skin. “Doing something like that. Just...wanted to take advantage of my vulnerable state, didn’t you?”

It was clearly a joke, but still, Kylo smarted, smirk fading. 

Some scars had lingered over the years, even those that weren’t visible to the eye, those laced over his catalog of emotions, reminding him of his past arrogance, the mistakes he made as a result of it. Of course, he and Hux had continued to have disagreements over the years as Supreme Leader and Chancellor, clashed on policy and personal issues alike, but they hardly held a candle to the erstwhile chaos that had raged in the aftermath of Snoke’s death. Ever since the day he had faltered in a moment of anger and closed his ghostly fingers around Hux’s throat, Kylo had vowed that he would _never_ take advantage of his general, chancellor, _mate_ —whatever else Hux would become to him—ever again. 

The vow had gone unspoken for so long, and Kylo half-wondered if now was the right time to fully admit the truth of why he’d kept Hux by his side for so long. “I can’t help it, when you’re lying there like that, looking so pretty and well-bred,” he said instead, playing it off, and the soft, amused smile and roll of the eyes Hux gave him made the lie feel worth it. 

The evening’s exhaustion pulling at him, his hand joined Hux’s over his belly as he crawled into the next. The lights go out with a mumbled command, and though Hux succumbed to sleep within mere moments, Kylo remained awake, eyes shining even without lights, leaving him alone with his own mired muddle of thoughts. Of the past and present, of the peaks and valleys in the course that had led him to this point. He could stay up all night dwelling on it, picking it apart, trying to understand what it meant for him and Hux and now, their child. Was he really better? Could he ever truly be better than the man he once was? Haunted by red-soaked visions of the past, he couldn’t say, and it frightened him. 

But the Dark had always been merciful to him, in a way it wasn’t always to others who walked its path. And before long, Kylo slipped away into sleep as well, joining his Hux in the simple comfort shared by their nest. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are, as always, well appreciated. 
> 
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://thethespacecoyote.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/heir_of_breath7/).


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